We have a nice tradition of going on vacation during President's Day Weekend. We went to Vermont two years in a row back when we lived in VA (2015, 2016) and then last year we went to Buenos Aires. This year, we traveled to Uruguay!
Day 1: Thursday
The day we left Asuncion, Valentine's Day, it was very rainy which caused bad traffic throughout the city. That didn't get us off to the right foot for our trip. We made it to the airport in plenty of time so that was fine. The airline was a little confusing though. Two days before we were to fly out, Scott got an email with our itinerary which said the flight departed at 8pm. Our original booking was for a 6pm departure and then online there was a written departure time for 2:50pm. There is only one flight from Asuncion to Montevideo, Uruguay with this airline in a day so we knew something was off! Scott contacted someone to help us and indeed our flight was for 2:50pm. So! We made it just fine.
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| Here we go again! This time as a family of 4! |
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| She LOVES to fly! |
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| Mostly empty flight much to our delight. |
Landed in rainy Montevideo and bustled to the car rental desk. Our rental was a Dodge Journey and it was not great... at first. The two biggest issues were with seatbelts. The car seats fit but the seatbelts wouldn't lock in place when pulled all the way out like normal. So that was a little unsettling for Mom. Other seatbelt issue was, the backseat seatbelt was broken! And of course both girls were exhausted from flying and not napping so K was forced to sit in the back with them with a broken seatbelt. Luckily Scott's an excellent driver and we didn't get caught.
We rented the car to drive to Punta del Este, a beach town resort Northeast of Montevideo. After the girls fell asleep it was an enjoyable, peaceful drive there but once we did arrive we had some major questions about our Airbnb. We drove past it twice before decided it was the place and then once more to find a parking spot. We had no idea how to get the keys but luckily that resolved after a few stressful minutes. The apartment itself was very oddly set up but in the end it worked fine and you couldn't beat the location! The only thing between us and the beach was a road. We got in, settled a little, went for some dinner then came back and all went to bed.
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| Chivito platter for 2. So many fries! |
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| A stack of towels was Finley's bed. We traveled light. |
Day 2: Friday
Breakfast in the morning was at Panificadora la 2. We got some lunch stuff at the market next door then drove to the harbor to board a boat for Isla Gorriti which is on the river side of Punta del Este (PDE). Spent several hours there and Mackenzie had a blast running in the sand and surf. Finley slept for both boat rides and all the walking but seemed to enjoying laying on the beach.
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| Beautiful and large hydrangeas outside our Airbnb. |
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| Isla Gorriti! The island played a part in some war long ago. |
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| Down in an ammunition dump. |
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| Playing on the playa (beach). |
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| Our make-shift canopy for the baby. |
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| Fun adventure! |
After M's nap we hit up Playa Brava, the beach directly in front of our Airbnb. Mackenzie had the time of her little life jumping in the waves with Daddy. Finley on the other hand slept and woke up hungry and cold. We knew it was time to go when Mackenzie came out of the ocean shivering violently. We cleaned up then went out for burgers and a churro dessert.
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| Her first entry into the ocean. |
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| The apartment building provided umbrellas and chairs! |
Day 3: Saturday
Breakfast at our same place then we went to see Los Dedos (the fingers). It’s a giant statue of fingers coming out of the sand. It’s a major tourist attraction in PDE and it’s a block from our Airbnb! We determined M needed a nap since she kept going to bed late and waking up early so we came back to the apartment. She slept maybe an hour and then we got in the car to see Casa Pueblo another major attraction.
We parked a little down from Casa Pueblo and found a walking path along the “cliffs”. Don’t worry, very safe and doable with the two kids. Casa Pueblo is staggeringly grand. So glad we got to see it in person. To go inside you need to buy a ticket to the permanent art exhibit, eat at the restaurant or stay in the hotel. We’re cheap so outside views were good enough for us.
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| It was such a pleasant day for a walk. |
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| This doesn't even capture all its grandeur. Google it. |
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| Casa Pueblo was built by an artist. This is some of his work. |
We’d hit all the major attractions we’d wanted so we had time to go to the beach again in the afternoon much to Mackenzie’s delight. We did it right this time now that we’d figured some things out and we all had a much more enjoyable time. Kiersten was even able to read a magazine and relax!
Clean up and then dinner which was a sad, disappointing, tourist-trap of a meal then back for bed. Best sleep of the trip yet! Both girls slept in until almost 7!
Day 4: Sunday
Scott packed up the bags and Kiersten, with Finley in tow, got breakfast. Then we got on the road back to Montevideo with a stop in Piriopolis which is about halfway to Montevideo. We saw some beautiful views from Cerro San Antonio and then hit the road again.
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| Another beautiful beach town but a little quieter than PDE. |
Arrived in Montevideo and found our Airbnb without issue and got keys easily. While Scott returned the rental, the girls got some groceries nearby. Our next plan was to catch the hop on hop off bus at the stop a few blocks up the street. We rode around for about an hour and got off to see Tres Cruses and the soccer stadium that was built for the first World Cup in 1938. Well, we didn’t see it so much as run past it to catch the next bus.
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| Waiting at City Hall for our tour bus. |
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| Obelisk which celebrates the 100th year of Uruguayan independence. |
We got off at the next stop to walk several blocks for dinner at Scott’s Uruguayan Embassy counterpart in Montevideo. We got there early and were able to let Mackenzie run free at the awesome Naval Museum playground.
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| Nautical themed playground complete with real, giant anchors! |
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| One of the coolest playgrounds we've visited in our travels. Rivals the one in London. |
Dinner with Gina and family was one of the single most pleasant evenings “out” we’ve had in a long time. The food was heavenly (can you really go wrong with steak and potatoes?) and the company fantastic. Mackenzie had a blast playing with their girls and the feeling was mutual. We were all sad when the evening came to an end but it was after 9 and we really needed to get all children to bed.
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| This view is their's to enjoy all the time. |
Day 5: Monday-last day
After a late start, our first attraction was the Montevideo sign which ironically was a block from where we ate dinner last night. When we arrived there was a tour bus of people taking their pictures and we figured, “it’s only a matter of time until they leave.” It was actually Scott who stopped and took note that this group wasn’t speaking English or Spanish but Hungarian! Yup a tour group of nénis and bácsis in Uruguay. Kiersten just stood in the midst of them listening and smiling like a doofus, trying to remember enough Hungarian to talk to someone but the moment passed and all she said almost to her self was, “Viszlát” which means “goodbye”.
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| Find Kiersten in the pink dress with baby carrier standing in shocked wonderment. |
We got our pictures taken via drone and it was totally worth the 10 or 20 bucks we paid. We’d taken an Uber to the sign and were going to catch the hop on bus to finish the loop but decided to first get lunch at the burger place recommended to us by our dinner hosts the night before since we were in the neighborhood. We are so glad we did. It was Five Guys meets premium beef. These burgers were definitely in our top 3 best burger of all time.
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| The sign was magically all ours! |
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| We went back to the playground to kill more time before lunch. |
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| A sweet sister moment during our busiest day. |
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| That burger, those fries! The only thing missing would have been a killer milkshake. |
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| Her first papa frita (french fry). |
After lunch we got some ice cream and caught the bus. We rode to Mercado del Puerto which is the famous meat and vegetable market in town. We were all very tired and hot by this point but no one more than Mackenzie. We bought our essential piece of artwork for our travel wall and started back to our place on foot until we realized how cruel this was to our toddler and got an Uber. We learned just how far we can push her until she breaks today. She was such a trooper though. She almost instantly fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep through the transfer from car to elevator to bed which she’s never done!
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| Just outside the market. |
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| Meat, meat, meat! We didn't eat here having just had terrific burgers. |
Mackenzie was extra cranky when she woke up and it took her a full hour to be really awake and ready to go (she woke up on her own we should add). When we did leave we had one more place to visit: Plaza Independencia. This plaza is right next to the once tallest building in South America and the gate which separates old town and new town Montevideo. There was a terrific book store around the corner where we ate dinner and finally got a decent Uruguayan meal. It was a very busy, long, exhausting day but one for the memory books. We’d recommend visiting Uruguay to anyone.
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| Plaza Independencia. |
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This bookstore reminded us of the one we found in Porto, Portugal which inspired J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts Library.
Check it out. |
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| Mackenzie picked this flower. |
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| These sandwiches were way bigger than we anticipated! |
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| The gate. |
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| Random statue made from scrap metal. |
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| It's Carnival down here. |
Quarks of Uruguay: (Not 'quirks' but 'quarks')
- The ‘ll’ sound here is more like a ‘juh’ so ‘tortilla’ is ‘tortija’.
- More smokers. Same was true in BA. More rich and developed areas seem to have more smoking.
- They have cheddar cheese!
- Thong swimsuit bottoms were very popular.
- They call their costanera a 'rambla' which is essentially the same thing only theirs is better developed.
- Single cheek kiss. In Paraguay they do both cheeks.
- In PDE the sidewalks were stroller friendly. Montevideo sidewalks were a little more like Asuncion but we saw people with strollers. (We opted to bring a baby carrier.)
- Constant and wonderful coastal breezes.
- Foods. Many similarities to PY but they have a weird obsession with green olives. They also have a sandwich called ‘chivito’ which reminded us of a Paraguayan lomito, complete with egg.
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| Fried egg flavored potato chips. We did NOT buy this. |
- Potable water. Not a quark so much as nice and different.
- Their airport is about the same size as the one in Asuncion. Maybe a smidge bigger but much nicer.
The Mackenzie Update:
- Two nights in a row she woke up in the morning with a dry diaper!! But that was probably due to exhaustion.
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| Oh how this girl loves "burgers cheese". |
- Since she usually wears a diaper for naps we were concerned on Monday when she fell asleep before we could make the switch. She has gone weeks with dry diapers during nap time so it was only a matter of time however we were nervous since it had been a while since she’s used the bathroom. But she woke up dry!! Big, big step.
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| Enjoying a ride from Daddy. |
- Safe to say she’s a big fan of the beach. She kept requesting to swim in the “big pool” while we were in PDE.
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| Playing in the surf of Isla Gorriti. |
The Finley Report:
- We think she thinks the baby carrier is a bed. Within minutes of being placed in it she almost always fell asleep. Gonna be fun to break that habit this week.
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| Sitting on the couch like a big girl! |
- Even though she’s spent most of the day sleeping (it seems since she’s in the carrier a lot) she went her longest stretch without eating to date Sunday night -Monday morning which was over 9 hours!
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Our drive back to Montevideo she wouldn't calm down.
She held K's finger to fall asleep so K pulled an Indiana Jones with the chapstick to escape. |
- We have two baby carriers: one more traditional with buckles and straps, the other is just two fabric loops that you wrap around your body and the baby. The latter is more comfortable and every time Kiersten wore it people literally stopped and stared in awe!
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| Such a happy baby! |
It was a fun but quick trip. Now we are back home getting re-settled. This was our last planned trip until we go stateside in June!
Great blog post! It looks like a wonderful trip and I love the photos! Especially the one on the Montevideo sign.
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